[Mureybet, Mureybit]. A site on the middle Euphrates c80 km east of Aleppo in Syria, occupied from c8500 to 6900 be. The site went through three major occupation phases, beginning with a Natufian village of round huts and expanding to cover some three hectares with both rectangular and round houses. The traditional interpretation of the economy of this site is that it was based entirely on wild resources, specifically on the hunting of onager, aurochs and gazelle and on the gathering of wild einkom and, to a lesser extent, wild barley, lentils and vetch. Recently, however, it has been suggested that the einkom, though still morphologically of wild type, was being cultivated, as has been suggested for the earlier site of Tell Abu Hureyra, only 36 km downstream from Mureybat. This view is supported by the fact that wild einkom does not grow in the area today and it is thought unlikely that it ever did (Mureybat is less than 300 metres above sealevel and einkom usually grows at elevations between 600 and 2000 metres.) The other plants might also have been cultivated and the main animals either selectively hunted or actively herded, while hunting, fishing and collecting of truly wild foods continued alongside the newer activities.
The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983Copied